Monday, August 6, 2012

Recently another group has stepped forward to express their thoughts on the BCS lawsuit. The Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) has petitioned the court to add their amicus brief to the proceedings. This is fairly unusual, in that the ACSA doesn't normally weigh in on cases at this level, but it appears that they felt this important enough to do here.

The ACSA brief reminds the court that the standard to be followed in Prop 39 is "reasonably equivalent". It specifically calls out that BCS has attempted to reduce this to a mathematical formula, which was not the intent of Prop 39. Several courts, including the trial court in our case and the appeals court in Ridgecrest, have been careful to explain that exact equivalence isn't possible, and that public officials must have some flexibility in their decision-making. The brief also takes BCS to task for cherry-picking their metrics. They point out that BCS picks and chooses which measurements they don't like, while ignoring the overall standard of "reasonably equivalent."

I hope that the court admits this brief- it highlights the difficult decision-making process we need to go through as we balance the needs of all public school students.

About Me

I have 1 child in the LASD schools, and 1 who has graduated and moved on to high school. After several years of active volunteer work, I got involved in the school board. In the fall of 2009, I was elected to the Board of Trustees. I am grateful for the trust the community has placed in me. I intend to continue to use this blog to share my thoughts about district matters.

I have a passion for using technology to solve problems in new ways. I draw on my experience at a subscription billing company and past tech ventures to inform new approaches to solving longstanding issues in education. It isn't always comfortable for folks, but I believe there is a lot of cross-polination that can happen.

Please remember that this blog is my personal blog, and does not reflect the opinion of the Board as a group. No statements made here can be considered an offical policy of the Board, and this does not replace actions by the Board in any way. However, I'm happy to share what I can and I look forward to hearing your thoughts too.